hey guys, i recently got into beetle keeping and i have a bunch of larvae on hand. As i would like my maintenance to be as low as possible, i have chosen to get finished flake soil which costs about 3usd per 4L. People have reviewed the flake soil, successfully raising their larave into imago, however i would like to know if there's anything i can do to optimise or improve the quality of flake soil any further at this stage.

I also noticed the hobby is not as popular in english speaking countries as compared to asia, where many specialised beetle content is in their native language - mainly Taiwan & Japan. Are there any good sources for raising beetles? low maintenance is a priority for me - did i get into the wrong hobby? Any comments or advise is appreciated!

How do you keep a moisture gradient in the soil for larvae? Is a horizontal or vertical gradient better?

I'm raising *Eleodes veterator*, a very small species that inhabits coastal sand dunes in Texas and Louisiana. There's not really any information out there about them or their larvae, so I'm assuming its similar to other members of their genus.

So far I've seen them eating apples and cat food, and I'm fairly certain I saw a female laying eggs. The substrate is half coco coir and half dune sand I collected and baked. They have baked live oak leaves and cholla wood to hide in. I'm hoping to see larvae soon!

Ten lined June beetle! I have to quit saying this is my favorite bug because at this point I would have hundreds of favorites.

I love this one because of the hissing sound they make. Sounds very similar to bat hissing sounds! 🦇

Hi! I have a new family member, a rainbow stag beetle. His current enclosure is pretty sad looking, it’s only sphagnum moss and one stick. This is my first time taking care of a beetle and I really want to give him a nice home. Any advice on how to make a good enclosure for him? I was investigating and currently thinking on buying coco fiber to put at the bottom with the moss on top, buy another bigger stick which will also be where I put his food, and maybe a little plant in a separate pot very well secured to the bottom but I’m not sure

Um aluno achou esse carinha já morto no horário do lanche e trouxe para mim, pois possuo um projeto de insetario em casa kkkkk o problema é que não consigo encontrar que tipo de besouro é, pois as características não costumam bater com ele na minha visão 😢

In the empry spots i will hopefully be able to still add my dynastes hercules lichyi male and an mtu female. Then this box will be pretty much full and i'll have to get some new ones. Probably gonna have 3. 1 for stags, 1 for emrhino beetles and 1 for the flower beetles.

The prettiest jewel beetle landed on me and it just so happened that it’s purple stripe matched my dress

shall i be concerned? what should i do??

A friend of mine got me this necklace at a bazaar, and I've always been curious what kind of beetle this is. Does anyone here know?

So I just went on a hike in NE Georgia and found this beautiful blue scarab. I suspect that it's a splendid earth boring beetle Geotrupes splendidus (I'm gonna call him Crumb) and I thought that he was dead bc he was on his back with legs curled in and had no reaction to handling. When I got home, he was moving sluggishly around in the bottom of my collecting jar and I have a decent burrowing beetle setup from when I had my Hercules beetle, so I wanted to keep him.

When I moved him to the tank, he became very lively and started squeaking at me, which I didn't even know was a thing, but he seems less lethargic now.

I just wanted some input with confirming my ID and making sure this food source would be suitable. I don't know if there's a good way to sex these guys, but I'm curious if Crumb is a he or a she if there is a way to know. I've read that they can thrive off of mushrooms and some fruit even though it's a dung beetle. I ordered some dehydrated oyster mushrooms and a small growing kit for the spore block as food. If he's not able to thrive off of this, I can just put him in a nearby forest!

Right now, he's burrowed in the ground and I have some beetle jelly in there. Any advice or info on this would be super appreciated!!!

I live in a building in downtown San Diego. I have no plants on my patio yet I have eucalyptus leaf beetles on my patio every day. I see and hear more at night. HOW do I get rid of these?

Saved this bad boi from drowning in my pond

For some context, I received my mystery grub on oct 16 from David's beetles he was in a tiny container 4-6 oz? quite cramped and he kept plugging the air holes with the flake. I had ordered a pound of oak flake from jam jam exotic (David's was out) it was expected to arrive on the same day or before the grub. They currently have a backlog so its been 8 days since it was supposed to arrive, I admit I panicked and got worried for my grub. I made the choice to get some rotting Aspen from my yard because from everything I looked up it was suitable, the Aspen had been rotting for 12 years and had white rot? It was soft enough to break off chunks then crumble them and looked identical to the wild rotting logs you can find grubs in. He has been living and eating the substrate for those 8 days and from what I can tell he seems healthy?

He is active burrowing and surfacing on occasion he is firm and growing (bit me) doesnt seem lethargic?

1 does he look healthy?

2 does that substrate I found look good?

3 when the flake soil arrives do I still add his current stuff?

4 I removed the damp tp because he was munching it, ai overview said it can prevent resurfacing :/

5 I see some people fill their grub container to the brim and some leave space at the top, which is the best?

Thank you so much for any advice or help

As the title says, my beautiful Rainbow Stag Beetle passed away last night. He seemed a lot weaker than normal on Wednesday when I picked him up. He wasn't gripping me as hard as normal. He walked into his favorite spot in the corner of his enclosure and passed away in his sleep. I loved him like a son.

I purchased him as an adult from Jam Jam Exotics. They told me he was 2-3 out of dormancy when I purchased him. But, I only got him in August. I feel like this is significantly shorter than normal Rainbow Stag Beetle lifespan.

Can you Beetlefolk help me elucidate his cause of death? Because it seems like old age, but he should only have been an adult for 6 months at most. I really am trying to figure out if I killed my own beetle child through criminal negligence of some kind.

Enclosure temp was 69-71° F depending on the day. Humidity was 65-70% depending on the day. He had plenty of soil specifically for beetles and was fed beetle regularly. I only handled him once a week as to not stress him out. I can answer any other questions that might help you determine his cause of death in the comments.

Thank you all.

Hello. I really want pet beetles, but I have some concerns. I wouldn't want a too large beetle population in my small terrarium, and wouldn't like killing the extra beetles. On the other hand, I'd like a self-sustaining colony where I wouldn't have to buy new beetles every time an old one dies (as many of them have quite a short life). Which relatively commonly sold (in Europe) beetle species breeds in captivity, but not too much? Many African species are stunning. I'd prefer a green species. I have a nice terrarium ready :)